Food, location, price. 5 star Phuket is a lot cheaper than 5 star Maldives. Food and service are up to par and similar but the location is obviously different. No lagoons and pure ocean but wonderful islands and locales. I can spend 3 nights with my family in Phuket but it would cost 2x-3x the airfare and 1.5-2x the accomodations for the same in the Maldives. Diving wise I cant compare.